Xerxes : A Persian Life / Richard Stoneman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stoneman, Richard, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Xerxes I, King of Persia, 519 B.C.-465 B.C. or 464 B.C.

Xerxes.

Achaemenid dynasty, 559-330 B.C.

Achaemenid dynasty.

Iran--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Iran.

Iran--History--To 640.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (313 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The first full-scale account of a Persian king vilified by history Xerxes, Great King of the Persian Empire from 486-465 B.C., has gone down in history as an angry tyrant full of insane ambition. The stand of Leonidas and the 300 against his army at Thermopylae is a byword for courage, while the failure of Xerxes' expedition has overshadowed all the other achievements of his twenty-two-year reign. In this lively and comprehensive new biography, Richard Stoneman shows how Xerxes, despite sympathetic treatment by the contemporary Greek writers Aeschylus and Herodotus, had his reputation destroyed by later Greek writers and by the propaganda of Alexander the Great. Stoneman draws on the latest research in Achaemenid studies and archaeology to present the ruler from the Persian perspective. This illuminating volume does not whitewash Xerxes' failings but sets against them such triumphs as the architectural splendor of Persepolis and a consideration of Xerxes' religious commitments. What emerges is a nuanced portrait of a man who ruled a vast and multicultural empire which the Greek communities of the West saw as the antithesis of their own values.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

1. Accession

2. The Persian Empire

3. The Image of a King

4. The Religion of Xerxes

5. Invasion (I): The Cornerstone of Greek Freedom

6. Invasion (II): The Wooden Walls

7. Persepolis

8. Family Romances

9. Assassination

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Xerxes in Opera and Drama

Appendix 2. The Birth of Persian Kings

Appendix 3. The Chronology of Xerxes' Advance through Greece

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

0-300-21604-1

OCLC:

915346646